Taiwanese firm HTC said Monday that it expects profit margins to continue sliding in the wake of increased competition by rival firms including Apple and Samsung.

HTC says that it expects revenue to drop by 17 percent in the three months leading to March 31, based on results from Q4 2012, which is worse than forecast by analysts.

The smartphone maker expects first-quarter revenue of between NT$50 billion to NT$60 billion ($1.69 - $2.03 billion). According to Reuters, this figure is lower than analyst forecasts of NT$62.77 in Q1 2013. HTC also predicts a Q1 gross profit margin of between 21 and 23 percent, which is either equal to or lower than 23 percent in Q4 2012. The company's operating profit margin is expected to be between 0.5 and 1 percent, in comparison to 1 percent in Q4 and 7.5 percent a year ago.

The Taoyuan-based firm has faced increased competition from rivals including Apple and Samsung, as well as the emergence of companies that are also targeting low-end smartphone markets. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, HTC's CEO Peter Chou admitted the firm performed poorly in 2012, but remained optimistic that this year will be better.

Chou said that competition was "too strong" for the Taiwanese firm -- evident in HTC's profit slide of 79 percent year-on-year -- but 2013 "would not be too bad."

"Our competitors were too strong and very resourceful, pouring in lots of money into marketing. We haven't done enough on the marketing front." Chou told the Journal.

According to research firm IDC, HTC lost its spot within the top five smartphone makers as shipments fell by 25 percent last year. In Q4, HTC is estimated to have only claimed 4.3 percent of total smartphone marketshare.

Update 11.48GMT: Following a conference call this morning, HTC Chief Financial Officer Chang Chia-Lin told investors that the company will now begin to offer low-end, cheaper smartphone models in order to shore up the balance books. Currently, the cheapest phone available in China is priced at 1,999 yuan ($320), but HTC is willing to go lower in its bid to target emerging markets over the next year.

"We're going to go down, but not below 1,000," Chia-Lin said. "We see there's still room to play."

Charlie Osborne, a medical anthropologist who studied at the University of Kent, UK, is a journalist, freelance photographer and former teacher.
She has spent years travelling and working across Europe and the Middle East as a teacher, and has been involved in the running of businesses ranging from media and events to B2B sales. Charli...
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